Indian Railways will be running 40 new pair of trains from September 12. The booking for these trains will begin from September 10. These pair of trains are apart from the 115 pair of special trains that are begin run by the Indian Railways after regular trains were suspended in March due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The decision was taken after monitoring the demand of tickets for various routes. Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said, “We will monitor special trains and wherever there is demand for a train or the waiting list is long, we will run a clone train,” He added, “The stoppages of the clone trains will be less than the IRCTC special train, the idea is to have stoppages at major stations for clone trains to meet demands of people.
Here is the list of 40 pairs of new special trains:
Regular trains were suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. The railways started pair of 15 trains connecting major cities with New Delhi in May. On June 1, 100 more pairs of special trains were started. The booking for these trains can be done via IRCTC website or app. A few booking counters have been opened.
The Press Information Bureau had released the rules around special trains in May. The rules are as follows:
- The trains will not have any unreserved coaches.
- All passengers must have Aarogya Setu app in their mobile phones.
- No special fares shall be charged for these trains and usual fares will be applicable. For General Coaches, Second Seating (2S) fares will be applicable.
- Tickets can only be booked via IRCTC app or website.
- Tickets can be booked 30 days in advance.
- Passengers need to have confirmed tickets to be allowed to board the train.
- Screening of all passengers will be done before boarding and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board.
- In case a passenger is deemed unfit to travel, a full refund will be issued.
- Four categories of differently-abled passengers and 11 categories of other passenger concessions are permitted for these trains.
- Passengers will have to adhere to health and quarantine protocols as prescribed by the destination state/UT.
- No linen, blankets, or curtains shall be provided in these trains.
- Only pre-packaged meals will be available.
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